Martin Theater hosts veterans from Sims

By ZACK McDONALD / The News Herald

Published: Tuesday, April 9, 2013 at 09:51 PM.

The Panama City Beach Rotary Club arranged for the Sims vets to arrive by bus with an escort cavalcade of Panama City Beach police, Warriors Watch Riders, Combat Veterans Riders and Patriot Guard Riders through 100 star-spangled banners lining Harrison Avenue. Popcorn and soft drinks were supplied for the visitors before the movie. A meal from Carrabba’s Italian Grill was served in the Green Room after the movie.

“We have great community support for our veterans,” said Genny O’Hare, activities director at Sims. “Everybody wants to get involved. It’s unbelievable the amount of support we get, which is wonderful.”

The next event for the Sims vets will be a day playing baseball at Frank Brown Park. “Spring Training” will be April 24.

“They get up there and hit the ball and if they can’t run very well, we’ll run them around the bases in a wheelchair,” O’Hare said. “That’s a blast.”

PANAMA CITY — A black and white newsreel of the home front during World War II victory celebrations flickered on the screen, illuminating faces in the audience.

Millions of soldiers abroad would have seen the very same reel – bringing memories back for some of the veterans in the Martin Theatre Tuesday morning.

“When you went to a picture show back then you would start at 1 and stay until 6 p.m.; that’s if it wasn’t a double feature,” said Lee Elwell, retired Navy veteran of WWII. “It was altogether a different experience.”

When he was a boy, Elwell said, the movie would be led by a newsreel and a short feature and sometimes followed by a live performance. The full day of entertainment cost less than a quarter.

This is partly what organizers of “Movies at the Martin” strived to achieve for the feature event of “Some Like It Hot” for about 35 veterans from WWII, Korea and Vietnam and family members of the Sims Veterans Home in Springfield.

“We just thought it would be a wonderful opportunity to show the veterans we appreciate them,” said Jim Bailey, chairman of the board of directors for the Martin Theatre. “So we said yeah we can have them down here for a movie and a meal and just have a day out. … Some of these people also had their first dates in the Martin Theatre so it brings back some good memories.”

Tuesday’s event was the first of its kind at the Martin Theatre but Bailey said he could see similar events taking place in the future.

The Panama City Beach Rotary Club arranged for the Sims vets to arrive by bus with an escort cavalcade of Panama City Beach police, Warriors Watch Riders, Combat Veterans Riders and Patriot Guard Riders through 100 star-spangled banners lining Harrison Avenue. Popcorn and soft drinks were supplied for the visitors before the movie. A meal from Carrabba’s Italian Grill was served in the Green Room after the movie.

“We have great community support for our veterans,” said Genny O’Hare, activities director at Sims. “Everybody wants to get involved. It’s unbelievable the amount of support we get, which is wonderful.”

The next event for the Sims vets will be a day playing baseball at Frank Brown Park. “Spring Training” will be April 24.

“They get up there and hit the ball and if they can’t run very well, we’ll run them around the bases in a wheelchair,” O’Hare said. “That’s a blast.”

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